"So, how was your first day?" Li pinned Clive with a scathing look as he came into the kitchen that had him laughing, "That bad huh? What did you do?"

"Why is it I have to had done something." She set a plate of lasagna on the little kitchen table then jabbed at his hand as he reached for the fork.

"I know you, Li," He shoveled food into his large mouth, "Who did you offend?" In a tight clipped tone she went over her day in detail, comfortable with the routine of debriefing. He laughed at her encounters with the peacock, interjected he already liked Pixie and arched his brow at the mention of Slick.

"Don't give me that look," Li pointed with her heavy fork, "I'll be out of here in six months, long before anything brow raising can happen." Pity. She stifled her subconscious, refusing to admit, even to herself, she was curious what a normal life would be like. About Slick. I wasn't born into normal and I'm just fine.

"What about Pixie? Do you think she has any power?" That question had dogged her all day. When she sat with her new friend she couldn't deny the sensation of her powers stirring. This usually happened in the presence of other gifted souls while her own powers were bound. Their gifts called out to hers and pixies were natural boosters for elementals. It made sense then for Li to be drawn to an earth pixie, they were practically kin.

"I don't know, it's very slight but it is there. I think," She pushed the last bites of her dinner around her plate, "When I'm with her I feel something but it could be only a thin stream. Lots of people have a touch of clairvoyance they write off as instinct or de ja vu. Could be wishful thinking on my part." They sat in silence staring at each other, lost to their own thoughts.

"I'll let Commander know, he can look into it." At this Li immediately brightened, Clive held up a hand to stop her, "That doesn't mean that's why you're here -"

"It could."

"When has your job ever been done in a day?" He had a point. She sat back and chewed her bottom lip, if Avani turned out to be gifted this would only be the beginning. Li couldn't simply pluck the girl out of school during lunch and cart her off to a secret island no one had ever heard of. She would need to gather information first, test the strength of the girl's powers - if she even had anything to test - then define any and all danger to her. If threats were identified, the process became twice as long.

 Finding a pixie in Bridge Port wasn't the free card home she needed, her lips dipped at the corners.

"Cheer up, Little One, it's not half as bad as you imagine. Your first day was pretty standard," Clive nudged her face up with a finger under her chin, "You made friends." This wasn't what she wanted to hear and her frown deepened but she nodded anyway.

                                                                   ****

At a quarter after ten Li left the porch, leaving her bitter musings behind her and climbed the stairs to her room. She'd already showered but she reasoned she had earned a long, hot soak. Slightly cheered, her steps were lighter when she entered her bathroom to get the water ready.

From the mirror hanging over the porcelin sink, the familiar heart shapped face studied her. Same brown eyes like almonds, same wide lips, same little scars in her right brow where the hair never grew back. She plastered on a smile and watched her lips thin and spread to show straight white teeth.

Part of her job at The Facility dictated she never show her real face when on assignment, but instead be masked with a completely new identity. As fun as it had been to be a vibrant red head or blonde Li was biased to her own black hair and sharp features. Even if said hair hung like boring strings straight down her back and her chin was too pointed. Maybe she'd get bangs or trim off a few inches and wear it curled. She was no girly-girl but she knew enough about hair that a good cut could change the shape of her face, soften her chin a bit.

As she yanked the tie from the ponytail, her phone vibrated and rang in the quiet bedroom. It would have gone to voicemail for the caller to leave a message but Li was feeling unusally socialable. Shaking her hair loose, she leaned around the corner of the doorframe and tried to remember where she'd carelessly tossed her cell. It to screamed again, angery at being ignored, and vibrated off the computer desk across the room. Like a shot her right arm was stretched out, the irritant stopped and hovered three inches from the ground. It wouldn't do to ruin another phone in less than three months, how much money had she already lost that way? The little silver device glided through the air toward her until it settled in her palm.

The screen flashed in large letters The Pixie Answer Me! Smiling Li obeyed, she was picking up more than a few new habits since arriving in Bridge Port.

"I've called you like, a hundred times, where have you been?"

"You can't be missing me already, was I wrong being so nice to you?"

"Oh hush," Li chuckled, "What are you doing Friday?"

"Nothing I know of, what with me just moving here and it being only Monday."

"You're really getting smart with me when I've called to improve your social standing?" Li wisely kept her lips tightly together, "There's a party Friday, Stephen's annual first bash of the year."

"Who's Stephen and why doesn't he know the year started nine months ago?" She stripped and slipped into the steaming hot water with a hiss.

"What was that?"

"I'm soaking. Focus Pixie." Her laugh through the reiver was as full as if they were at lunch again. When Avani laughed she did so completely.

"Sorry, Stephen is somewhat Slick's protege. It's probably better that I say Stephen tries to be Slick, all puns intended."

"By throwing a party? Every year? I don't know much about the guy but that doesn't sound like a Slick thing, all puns intended."

"Exactly, stop interrupting me -"

"I didn't interrupt, you stopped talking." The silence on the end stretched on for a full minute, Li's smile grew even wider, "I'm sorry."

"As I was saying, we're going to take advantage of his need for acceptance. I do it every year and so will you."

"Orders from higher up?"

"Most definitely. Thursday we're hitting the mall so be ready."

"I have plenty of clothes and no one here has ever seen me."

"Who was talking about you?" They laughed together. It suddenly struck her that choosing to stay at The Facility had done her a disservice, she'd never enjoyed a conversation like this or shared in friendly banter. Had anyone but Clive heard her laugh? "Be ready after school, I'll even give you a little tour if you haven't had one already." Li told her she hadn't and added that she was longing to go out, surprised that she meant it.

An hour later, Li was finally able to reroute their conversation toward goodbyes, she'd climbed from the tub and dressed for bed thirty minutes ago and was now flipping through channels for the fourth time.

"Oh, Slick will be there." Avani hung up before she could lie that she wasn't concerned with him or his whereabouts. Resigned she turned off the tv, dousing the room in darkness. The day hadn't been as bad as it could have been, not entirely. The school roof was still intact and nothing had happened for her to expose herself. She couldn't spend the next six months on edge that something or nothing would turn up. Content, she rolled to her side and quickly drifted into a dreamless sleep.

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Author guidance for This story

I had to change up the tenses and POV so please let me know of any mistakes. Feedback in general would be nice :)

Any and all are welcome to join, just let me know in the thread (http://www.protagonize.com/group/collaborative-corner/topic/1469) and keep an eye there for the important stuff ^_^

This story takes place in the town of Bridge Port and it's high school, the area can be seen as a city area in it's center (school, malls, etc.), family homes and communities around that, then more spacious the farther from the center a person travels.

As far as Commander knows Li and Clive are the only people with gifts in the area but things sometimes change.

The Facility can be thought of as a homeland security kind of set up that does not work under any country's government. It occupies it's own (cloaked) island and takes contracts from any government to capture the baddies. However, they predominantly operate for the protection and training of those who are gifted. There are those that live here by choice and some because of their appearance, but there are ways to leave the island (teleport, boat, plane, highway, etc.).

Characters
Li Morrigan - Age: 17, Gifted (Ar'cusak), Earth elemental & ancient, high school junior, 5' 6", brown eyes, heart shaped face, blackhair to middle of back, slim build
Clive Morrigan - Age: (Appears 35), gifted (Dan'cusak), Guardian, solid, muscled build, low cut, dark hair, 6'8", green eyes, square face.
Damien 'Slick' Silver - Age: 17, no gifts, high school junior, 6'3", brown eyes, dark hair.
Avani 'Pixie' Lori - Age: 17, Gifted (undiscovered pixie), Earth and some light, high school junior, 5'2", green & gold eyes, mid-back, curly, brown hair (has lots of wigs though), round face.

updated May 19 '10 by Grim.R